9.23 / Eligibility to Serve as Principal Investigator

Effective: February 13, 2017

Purpose

To establish who is eligible to serve as Principal Investigator on sponsored projects.

Policy

The Principal Investigator (PI) has primary institutional responsibility for providing
scientific leadership and administrative/financial management of sponsored projects,
and as such, must be an employee of WSU. For the purposes of this policy statement,
the term PI shall encompass other sponsor-specific titles such as Project Director
and Program Director that are commonly used for non-research sponsored projects.

All full-time WSU faculty, regardless of rank or tenure status, are eligible to serve
as the PI on a sponsored project provided they meet sponsor qualifications. WSU staff
and adjunct faculty may serve as the PI on a sponsored project with approval from
their Chair and academic college Dean or Center Director provided they meet sponsor
qualifications. Typical examples of full-time faculty positions that are eligible
to be a PI include:

Research Associate

Postdoctoral Research Associate or Research Fellow

Research Scientist

Center Director

Academic Professionals

Exceptions must be approved in writing by the Vice President for Research and Technology
Transfer.